Carrabine pulls the strings as Sligo see off Waterford

Sligo picked up their second win of the campaign with an eventually impressive defeat of Waterford at Markievicz Park.

The only negative for Sligo was that they didn't score any goals but Sean Carrabine was again on form – he scored 0-8 – against an underwhelming Waterford side who got 0-5 from wing-back Dermot Ryan.

Waterford came to Sligo on the back of two losses from the opening two rounds – defeats to Leitrim and Carlow that left them on the bottom of the table.

Sligo, meanwhile, were hopeful that a second round win away to Wicklow signalled that their promotion campaign was back on track after a disappointing home reversal to title favourites Laois.

Waterford captain Dermot Ryan opened the game’s scoring with a good point but it was wind-assisted Sligo who quickly settled and they were 0-3 to 0-1 up by the 12th minute – an early burst of scores that included a fine score from Patrick O’Connor.

Waterford replied with their second point which was, in fact, a goal chance for Conor Murray that he blasted over after 13 minutes.

Sligo continued to impress and they reeled off four points without reply to lead 0-7 to 0-2 by the 20th minute.

At this stage Sean Carrabine was pulling the strings for Sligo who were still fortunate that Dylan Guiry didn’t get through for a goal but he was fouled and Brian Lynch converted the free.

Sligo added further points through Niall Murphy and Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch and might have had a goal but Niall Murphy’s goalbound flick was somehow kept out by Waterford goalkeeper Paudie Hunt.

The hosts, who brought a five-point lead into the second-half, 0-9 to 0-4, continued this dominance and they had extended this advantage to nine points, 0-14 to 0-5, by the 47th minute when Nathan Mullen found the target.